Tommy:

The Lord of the Rings is the grandfather of the modern fantasy novel genre, and as the Plastic Squirrel has said, it was written during WW II, actually during and on both sides of, from 1936 through 1949. (Use Tolkien's Forward to the Ballantine editions as a reference for dates and also for the postAuthorID's statement that it has no intended meaning and is neither allegorical nor topical).

The epic's time period can conveniently be set in the period before the last Ice Age (some 15000 plus years ago) and can be said to have taken place in the vicinity of Northwestern Europe. (This can help explain why none of the artifacts of the elven/dwarven/human civilizations have been found by archeologists and possibly why only humans remain (in any known numbers), all the other non-aquatic sentient beings, having either died off or gone into hiding. (Of course as the Plastic Squirrel has, time and again, been want to say, "Its not real for *****'s sake! Its only a book!!"; you should take the forgoing with a grain of salt.)

Hope this gives you a little more to work with.

If you have time Tom, I suggest Tom Shippey's book JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century. He addresses this topic as does the National Geographic film Lord of the rings:beyond the movie. As already mentioned the book was written during the 2nd world war. Tolkien did not like any reference to his work as "allegory", however, he would accept the term "applicability". This is significant as Tolkien perferred to leave the interpretations to the reader according to his environment rather than limited to what we suppose influenced the postAuthorID's writing. The themes in Lord of the Rings can apply to the early 20th century, the wars and the raping of the land by industrialization just as they can be applied throughout the world today. That is the neat thing about Tolkien and "applicability", it is timeless. Tolkien drew on his extensive knowledge of mythology and medieval history for the physical settings in the book. Good vs Evil, a timeless theme. One that haunted Tolkien, no doubt, through witnessing 2 horrific world wars.
Hope this makes some sense. I'm not good at writing off the top of my head in a forum, like this.
Good luck on the essay.
Rednell

As for reflecting any particular time, I think that Tolkien's world has no consistency. I would not agree that it is a story set somewhere in the "real" time, before the Ice Age... Look at all these Victorian paraphernalia found in the Shire - such as the famous umbrella of Lobelia Sackvlle-Baggins! Or a letter from Gandalf (shown by Barliman in Bree): it has been written on a paper, wasn't it? (Bilbo also is writing on paper when in Rivendell...). And the quetsion of tobacco and famous "taters" (potatoes) of Gamgees: they are New World plants! In particular, potatoes did NOT grow in our Old World in these times - they started to be cultivated here fairly recently!
I'd say that the time of LOTR is a dream-time, and its reality is a dream-reality, the reality of our "internal world". Tolkien himself compared all experiences to leaves falling on a leaf mould, and then fermenting to feed the germ of the story...

[Edited on 9/4/2002 by Eryan]

Nicely put Eryan. The interesting thing about fantasy is that there are no absolute expectations of reality, internal or external. When reading fantasy we must also take into account the perception of the external reality, which as with the dream timescape (internal reality), reveals how the reader applies the events of the novel to what he perceives his physical, political and social surroundings are. I really think this is what Tolkien was trying to achieve and why he disliked the term "allegory".
Great discussion.
Rednell

Why not, actually? We've bought everything already, I guess.

Thanks, Eryan
I will seek out that thread. It sounds like a topic I would really be interested in reading.
Cheers,
Rednell

Well actually on the topic 'when did it take place'...


The Letters

The quote is all Tolkien's

Yo people out there! I'd just like to thank y'all for helping me out so well. I got my marks!!!
I got a 89 out of 100!!!







(just so happy, you can't believe it!)
Thanks again all!
Meet me in the tavern, the next round is on me!! cheers!

Hot !!! Well done indeed.

Thanks y'all, but I couldn't have done it without you guys! So thanks again! I recommended PT as a site for everything related to Tolkien, and I mentioned you all who helped me out here.
I would love to post it here, but it's in Dutch. When I find the time to put it in English, I will, promise. Will take some time though...

Hey Tommy, you can mail the Dutch version to me. The original is always better as the translation, no?

Tommy: You can find Gnampie's email address in the Website Member Directory, whose link is to the left and at the bottom.

Well for now, I suggest you make it a new topic under Books: The Lord of the Rings. If deemed necessary later, we might move it elsewhere.

Hey guys im new but i have a few questions 1.how do you talk to other people or ask questions?

Welcome to the site, King gil-galad. As Grev pointed out, you have succeeded in both your questions. If you want to chat, however, try entering the chatroom via the chat icon on the top menu bar.

Well, some can and some can't, it seems. Dunno why... You get a box from Jpilot? Do you have Java enabled? Or i s it just here?